The former Governor of Kaduna State and prominent Chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, on Friday publicly admitted to being privy to a successful hacking of the phone of President Bola Tinubu’s National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.
Mallam El-Rufai made this revelation during an interview on Arise Television where he spoke about his recent ordeal in the hands of the DSS and the ICPC.
“I want to say very clearly that it wasn’t the EFCC. It’s the DSS. But the DSS were procured to abduct me by the ICPC that has never communicated with me”, El-Rufai began.
“The EFCC had written to me while I was away to say that we will like to have a chat with you over certain issues. My lawyers replied that I am not in the country. I am on my annual vacation and that once I know the date of return I will let you know.
“And we have written to EFCC to say that I will celebrate my birthday with you. My birthday is on the 16th of February on Monday. So, it wasn’t the EFCC. My lawyer thought it was the EFCC. It was not.
“Subsequently, we found out that it was the ICPC that procured the DSS to abduct me and then hand over to them. And this is a modus operandi of the ICPC that increasingly has become a personal tool of Nuhu Ribadu (NSA). Nuhu made the call that I must be in custody yesterday”, El-Rufai alleged.
When the Arise TV anchor asked him how he knew the NSA made the call, El-Rufai said:
“He made the call because we listen to their calls. The government thinks they are the only ones that listen to calls but we also have our way. He (Ribadu) made the call, he gave the order.”
When the Arise TV anchor then sought confirmation from El-Rufai on whether he tapped the phone call of the NSA, El-Rufai instead said that someone tapped the NSA’s phone.
“Someone tapped his (Ribadu) phone and told us that he gave the order”, El-Rufai proclaimed.
In a swift response posted on his Facebook page, the Senior Special Assistant Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi expressed concern about El-Rufai’s admission.
“El-Rufai admitted on a national television that someone tapped the phone of the NSA for him to listen to his conversation. When Charles Aniagolu, the interviewer, interjected that that was an illegal action, El-Rufai agreed to the illegality.
“By the time he is picked up to produce the person who illegally tapped the NSA’s phone, he would say President Tinubu is a ‘tyrant’ and persecuting him,” Mr. Ajayi stated.
The National Security Adviser to the President, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu has not released any official statement in response to the latest claim by El-Rufai.